The Golden Joystick Awards today rewarded the best of the best in international gaming. With over nine million votes cast, the Golden Joysticks once again proved, in its 32nd year, why it is the biggest award show in the world of video gaming.

Dark Souls II was awarded the most prestigious gong of the afternoon – Game of the Year, in association with Green Man Gaming. Following on from Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, this is the third game in this hugely acclaimed series. An action RPG (role-player game), Dark Souls II was the resounding winner as voted for by the worlds gamers.

Lifetime Achievement recipient, Hideo Kojima is revered as one of the most influential and important people in the world of gaming. He has worked in the industry for almost 30 years and without him gaming as we know it would be a unrecognisable. Creator, director and writer of the ground-breaking Metal Gear Solid series, as well as the adventure games Snatcher and Policenauts, he also produced series’ Zone of Enders,Boktai and Castlevania: Lords of Shadows. Ken Levine was the inaugural recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in 2013. On receiving the honour, Kojima said

Thank you very much for presenting me with this prestigious Golden Joystick Award. To be recognised with this award means a huge amount to me.

Open world zombie survival horror game DayZ, was the winner of Best Original Game and Best Indie Game, and was one of three that picked up two awards. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, the free-to-play digital collectable card game, picked up Best Online Game and Best Mobile Game, while Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag won Best Visual Design and Best Audio with the games creators, Ubisoft Montreal, also winning Studio of the Year. Elsewhere in proceedings, Oculus Rift retained their Innovation of the Year crown, collecting the accolade again for their latest version the DK2. Most Wanted – which looks forward to game releases in the coming year – was won by The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, which was also exclusively revealed as part of the afternoons ceremony, and Gaming Personality of the Year was won by PewDiePie.